How do YOU say these Isle of Wight towns and villages?

Some of the place names are often, and arguably, mispronounced.

We asked followers of the Isle of Wight County Press Facebook page which were the most mispronounced Island town and village names - and crucially, how they should be pronounced!

We had a huge response with 225 comments at the time of writing! 

Scroll through our village photos above...

Most agree with Simone Lathwell, who said: 'K-night-on', 'Shorrell' and 'BUCK-em', for Knighton, Shorwell and Bowcombe.

Margaret Goyne added: "Definitely GURN-erd and BUCK-em. But my late parents, both Island born and bred, always said SHORE-well, not Shorrell."

Stacey Fallon said: "Knighton…..it’s blinking K-night-on! Then there are the usual suspects: Shorrell not Shorwell. Bri-STON not Brighstone. Wittle not Whitwell. Buckum not Bowcombe. Motti-STON not Mottistone…..basically if it ends in ‘stone it’s pronounced ston at the end!

"Cowes is Kays. Sandown is Sandane. Newport is Nippert. 

"Then there’s the great Gurnard debate. My nana and great gran called it Gurn-ERD not Gurn-ARD!

"What do other Caulk’eds think?"

Tell us how you pronounce the names of these Isle of Wight towns and villages

  • Got any thoughts on this subject? Send your ideas to editor@iwcp.co.uk - we would love to hear from you.

Dan Kitcher said: "Cowes - it's not West Cowes."

Others debated how to pronounce Appuldurcombe, whether Ventnor should be Vent-nor or Vent-ner, and whether Godshill should be Gods-hill or Godzill.

Faye Vincent said: "I hear Yaverland pronounced in all sorts of ways, I don't even know which one is accurate anymore."